Spain: the government goes easy on the minimum wage increase
Pedro Solbes, Minister for Economic Affairs, announced that minimum interprofessional wages (SMI) would "increase slower than anticipated with different economic circumstances". The trade unions...
Companies: benefits and disadvantages of EWCs
After analyzing the direct and indirect costs of a EWC (see our dispatch No. 080674), the study carried out by the GHK Consulting Firm at the request of the European Commission as part of the...
Germany : IG-Metall about to publish a list of « black sheep » among temp agencies
Confronted with the upsurge of temp employees paid less than the permanent workforce, the Frankfurt section of IG-Metall (which covers four Länder- Hesse, Rheinland-Palatinate, Sarre and...
Companies : actual costs of EWCs
Is it possible to give an accurate evaluation of the costs of a European Works Council ? The European Commission asked the GHK Consulting Firm to carry out a study on this topic in view of the...
Spain: target 1.000 euros a month
The Spanish unions set as their objective, during the pending collective negotiations, that all employees receive 1.000 euros a month minimum. (Ref. 080673)
HP: European trade unions demand re-skilling as an alternative to redundancies
Gathered on September 8 by the Union Network International (UNI) and by the European Metalworkers' federation (EMF), the trade unions of HewlettPackard (HP) expressed concern about the social...
Fiat: unions demand an international framework agreement
Italian metalworkers' unions - Fim-Cisl, Fiom-CGIL and Uilm -, the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF) and the union representatives of Fiat's Italian, Polish, Serbian, Turkish and...
Brazil: thousands of workers on strike in the car industry
Wage negotiations with car manufacturers are stuck in several Brazilian regions. In the south, 8.500 workers came out on strike last week and Sao Paulo's plants - the country's largest...
Great Britain: TUC report shows workers are dissatisfied
Pay in line with the cost of living, less stress and reduced working hours : these are workers' main claims, according to a report published by the Trade Union Confederation TUC on September 1...
Germany: after the agreement on gradual early retirement, the IG Metall demands a 7% wage increase minimum
After months of conflict and on the eve of the beginning of the wage negotiations for the 3.6 million employees of the sector, the Social Partners of the metal and electronics sectors reached an...
Great Britain: the communication workers union takes over TV
This is an unseen event: the first union channel was launched on July 31, 2008. The idea came from the Communication Workers Union (CWU) which is trying to appeal to young workers by exposing on...
Finland: the construction site of the EPR atomic reactor threatened by a strike
After some irregularities at a subcontractor of the Bouygues Company, the Finnish union of building workers is threatening to launch a strike on the construction site of the EPR atomic reactor...
BNP-Paribas: amendment to the EWC agreement
The management of the French bank BNP-Paribas (169.000 employees throughout the world, 130.000 of them in Europe) and the members of its European Works Council bargained for an amendment to the...
Hungary: unions feel that the government gives insufficient representation for workers’ interests in the new bipartite forum on economic matters
Union concerns. The Governmental Decree [1054/2008. (VIII. 4.)] setting out the competences of GEF explicitly states that the establishment of the forum does not concern the activities of the...
Areva: action program to apply the European agreement on equal opportunities
After adopting a European agreement on equal opportunities in November 2006, the management of the Areva group and its EWC, together with the European Metalworkers' Federation (EMF), wished to...
Czech Republic: satisfaction for the employees of Siemens’ rail vehicles subsidiary
Siemens AG SKV's management and the trade unions signed an agreement on August 25 which settles the social consequences of the restructuring of the German group's Czech subsidiary. A two-hour...
Most viewed articles of the month on mind HR
What readers clicked on the most last month.
What readers clicked on the most last month.
1
Catherine Chavanier (CDC Habitat): “Social dialogue on AI facilitates its deployment”
In February, CDC Habitat (10,500 employees) signed a two-year framework agreement governing social dialogue on AI. Catherine Chavanier, HR Director of the subsidiary of CDC (Caisse des dépôts et...
2
France: La Poste to launch negotiations for an AI agreement
Following the lead of firms such as Axa, Syensqo globally, and more recently CDC Habitat, La Poste group management will open negotiations on an AI regulation agreement during the first half of...
3
United Kingdom: launch of consultation on protection against detriment for industrial action
The British government launched a public consultation on 26 February regarding new protections for workers against "detriment" related to industrial action, scheduled to take effect in October...
12 March 2026
4
France: bioMérieux’s new disability agreement pivots towards mental health
The news. On 6 January 2026, bioMérieux—an in vitro diagnostics specialist employing 4,400 people in France—signed a new four-year agreement “relating to the employment...
5
Germany: controversial collective bargaining compliance act adopted
On 26 February, the Bundestag approved the Tariftreuegesetz (collective bargaining compliance act), aimed at strengthening collective agreements and tackling social dumping by tying certain public...
26 February 2026
6
Germany: a wave of redundancy plans in the automotive sector
The latest financial results presented in early 2026 by major German car manufacturers show sharp declines. This collapse in profits has triggered the announcement or confirmation of massive job...
16 March 2026